When I was in San Francisco, I managed to do a quick visit to REK, the startup that wants to use robots for mainstream entertainment. It was one of the coolest moments of this trip to the US, so keep reading!
REK
REK (Robot Entertainment Kombat) is a company co-founded by Cix Liv (originally with Amanda Watson and Nima Zeighami) with the purpose of using humanoid robots for mainstream entertainment. As you can understand from the name, the main entertainment idea they had was robots having boxing fights with each other.
REK quickly became popular in the tech field because… well, “fighting between humanoid robots”… should I really explain why this is cool?? The company organized a few night events where you could see humanoid robots fighting in a cage. They were completely sold out. I know a few people who attended these events, and they said the vibes were amazing. The fighting part was still a bit rough, though, but the company is working on it.
The idea is that the robots don’t fight automatically, but there are people inside VR headsets moving them. So it is like doing boxing in VR, but the fight does not happen only virtually, but physically through humanoid robots. It’s a very interesting concept. The current problem is that the robots that the company is using are not specifically made for this use case, so the company has now to work to make them fight better. When I was there, they showed me something about their work in progress.
The fights are the central part of the REK vision, but it is not the only one. Now the company is opening a big shop in San Francisco, and I visited it when they were still painting it, and there were a lot of boxes everywhere. But when it opens (quite soon, I guess), it has the ambition to become the first physical store for humanoid robots in the US. And inside, you can buy robots, rent robots, and, of course, see the robots in action. There will also be a big cage in the middle of the shop so that the fights can also happen there. But it won’t only be about the fights: in the shop, the robots will also entertain you in other ways, but I won’t tell you how to not spoil you everything.
Since the robots usually get damaged when performing crazy stunts, REK is also specializing in fixing them, so this is another service the company will offer. It will basically be a one-stop shop for humanoid robots, plus a lot of entertainment.
REK is all about entertainment and has no interest in the military use of robots. Cix also told me that at the moment these civilian robots are not ready for any military use, especially at a moment when drones are already very cheap and deadly. Entertainment is the most suitable and fun use case of them, and the company is all-in with that.
All robots used by REK are Chinese. I saw Cix commenting a lot of times on X that he would love to use American ones, but at the moment, there is literally no comparison possible between what’s available in China and what’s available in the US. Consider that it is now possible to buy a Unitree humanoid robot for less than $20K: it is a lot of money, but it is not the crazy money that was needed until a few years ago. Robotics is slowly being democratized by the Chinese.
Hands-on with the robots
As I told you, the shop is still under construction, so I couldn’t take part in a cage fight myself. I would have loved to do that, but maybe it will happen next time I visit. Cix and his team were still super kind enough to take some robots from the closet and show me some nice demos of them.
The first robot I was shown had some nice fighting moves! It was also super cool that it could stand up very quickly from any position on the ground. It was controlled with a gamepad, like most of the robots there. You can see it in action here in this video.
Then it came the turn of another robot, which was so cute: it detected the pat on its head (you can also hear the audio, if you want)…
But this robot gave its best when it danced. It had some sick moves…
Talking about dance moves, this was not the only robot that had a preset demo in which it synchronized with a song. The best moment came when they brought a cute, small humanoid robot in front of me. And then they made it dance Beat It by Michael Jackson. Unluckily, it didn’t moonwalk (I would have bought it instantly, otherwise), but it was super cool to watch anyway.
But this small boi could do more… since we are during World Cup times, of course, it had to play football! So here you are, Cix playing football with him
It was fun that the robot chased the ball as if it were the main objective of its existence. During my time there, it jumped into objects, crashed into walls, did everything it could just to get to kick the ball. Now I understand why REK has to be an expert in reparations, too…
Anyway, the cute robot also had a “grumpy grandpa” mode, which was super fun:
This was just a short selection of what will be available in the shop. There were other robots I couldn’t try, but that were super cool to see, like this one that looked like Predator…
Final impressions
I think REK is up to something. Cix has always been a serial entrepreneur with good ideas (e.g. he founded VR startup LIV), and this company is no exception to this rule.
He just showed me some easy pre-set demos, and I already had a ton of fun. It reminded me of when we were in the early days of VR (I mean, we are still in the early days, but let’s say the early days of these early days) in 2015, and I showed simple VR demos to my friends, and they were already excited by them. I had a really great time there, so I’m pretty sure that when the shop is ready, many people would love to just go there and see what these crazy robots are able to do.
The cage fights are where REK can truly shine: the idea is cool, and the company just needs to make the robots able to fight in a good way. I saw they are working on it. I also saw the team gets along pretty well, and there are talented people in it, so they have a chance to succeed.
My only big question is how this thing can extend beyond San Francisco. I mean, San Francisco loves technology and loves bold things, so it is the perfect place for a shop like REK. I’m pretty sure that REK will have a blast there. But would it have the same success in a more traditional Italian city? I don’t know, but I guess we’ll discover when the company tries to have a more international expansion.
In any case, as a nerd, for me, being in that shop and having those demos was like a kid entering a pastry shop with $50 in the pocket. I really thank REK for hosting me for some time, and I really wish Cix and his company a lot of luck. And if you want to know more, head to its website!